Flare Sci-Fi Forums: $DW s04e09 "The Forest of the Dead"$

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Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :

OK I'm going to jump right into this and ask - can someone help me with what the Doctor actually says in one point:

The Doctor says to the following words to River Song when he is in handcuffs. I can't work out what he says in one bit (where the ?? are) (I think the audio skipped or something)

"River you know my name... You wispered my name in my ear... there's only one ?????reason????? i would ever know I would ever tell anyone my name, there's only one time I could"

Intruiging.

Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :

I don't think the audio skipped ; I think his voice did. Unless, of course, you're watching a copy of it where there happens to also be an audio glitch at that same spot. But, yeah, he said "reason".

Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :

Thanks.

NOW, I wonder what that reason would be. People are speculating that River Song is his wife?

Posted by Harry (Member # 265) on :

There are suggestions she may be his wife. On the other hand, the last day before she came to the Library, he "turned up at [her] doorstep", with a new suit and a fresh haircut. Make of that what you will.

It's also a slightly odd thing. Is marriage really that incredibly significant to the Doctor that he would then, and only then share his true name?

Remember this spectacular scene? "Even the word Doctor is false. Your real name is hidden. It burns in the stars, in the Cascades of Medusa herself. You are a Lord, sir. A Lord of Time."

In a lot of myths, if you know someone's name, you hold power over them in some way. I feel that the revelation of his name is somehow tied into whatever is going to happen (or has happened) at the Medusa Cascade, which allegedly was the point where the Doctor burned Gallifrey (I'm beginning to lose track of what was confirmed on screen or what is just fan speculation).

The last speculation I offer is that he said his name for the specific purpose of triggering his earlier self into trusting River Song. Maybe that last day, those last moments of "Future Doctor" with River, at the Singing Towers, he whispered "My name is ..., tell me my name" into her ear, hugged her, and stepped into his Tardis. A perfectly odd thing for the Doctor to do.

But you know.. I would like to keep this one mysterious. We may never actually get to see these future moments with River Song, and it's good that way. I mean.. he could spend a lifetime away from us whenever he steps into the Tardis alone...

Posted by Reverend (Member # 335) on :

One would assume he told her her named when they were married, or whatever the time-lord equivalent might be. You really can't marry someone unless you know their name now, can you? As for how significant a marriage would be to the Doctor, remember that he's pushing on a millennium (as I recall) and to our knowledge he's only been in one serious relationship (Susan's grandmother) which, while we don't know for sure, we can reasonably assume was his first and (to date) only wife. Either way, by all accounts that relationship was over ages ago, literally. When we first saw him he was an old man in his first life, already a grandfather. So would he treat marriage seriously? I should think so.
As for his comings and goings, I assume that River, at least at some point wanted to have her own life away from the TARDIS (assuming she was a companion for a while) and he respected that but couldn't bring himself to settle down in a fixed time frame. Let's be honest, it's not unheard of for professional couples to spend extended periods of time away from each other, depending on their respective professions and with the Doctor, any time spent away is purely relative and apparently not in a chronological order.

Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :

Wibbly wobbly, timey wimey! [Smile]

So yes, maybe he only told her (in the future) when he knew it would be the last time he would see her before the events in the Library... he'd know that she might die, and the he'd need her help or vice versa - so he told her her name, knowing that she would be going to her 'death'.

Posted by The Ginger Beacon (Member # 1585) on :

Its whatever you want it to be. Until the writers mess it all up and tell us what they think its suposed to be.

To paraphrase a nice little film I saw a while ago (a penny sweet to whoever gets it first) the Doctor is mysterious, deal with it.